History

Hans Petter Bøe, who became Regional Representative in 2009, says that quite a lot changed when an organization-wide restructuring of IOM took place in 2011. This meant that IOM Finland became a Country Mission with Resource Mobilization Functions, and was now part of a larger region, that covers the European Economic Area. That the change led to a greater emphasis on operations in Finland. One of the projects that grew in importance was the Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR). This was done with a comprehensive approach and with funding from the EU.

http://avrr.iom.fi/The beginning of the new millennium was a time when the Baltic states were finalizing their accession to the European Union. In Finland, the number of asylum seekers started growing. Also, it was a time when new offices were opened: in 2002 in Norway, in 2004 in Estonia and in 2009 in Denmark.

The focus of IOM Finland’s operational work in the first years was on the Baltic states. At the same time, it was important to build up a strong Nordic presence. The first Regional Representative in Helsinki was Øystein Opdahl. He was followed by José-Angel Oropeza in 1997, who remained in charge until 2002.

The process of opening a regional IOM Mission in Helsinki started quite soon after Finland had joined IOM in 1991. In October 1992, James N. Purcell, then the Director General of IOM, and Anders Wenström, then the Director of the Bureau for Europe and North America, visited Helsinki for a dialogue o migration affairs.